These swaps were almost like soliloquies, offering a new view on the side that may counteract the main narrative, making us work through the events with the characters.Īs for the plot itself, it was mostly the same as the play. Talley uses third person to explore the viewpoints of several main characters, which not only gives you a more rounded view of plot, but works as a sort of dramatic irony.

It wasn’t an overly important plot point (you’ll know why if you know the story, a lot goes down!) but it did include current problems that often come with sexuality. Unfortunately I don’t read many diverse books, tending to stick with older books that I know are popular, so this was a nice change. Continuing on the theme of diversity, As I Descended included two LGBT characters one being Maria and Lily, which is a new take on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and the other being Brandon and his boyfriend. This also played well into the racial aspects of the book, being set on what used to be a slave plantation. Talley kept the supernatural theme from Shakespeare but updated it, using tales of spirits instead. The opening was intriguing and a new take on the typical Witches in the original play. Even from the first chapter I got the feeling this would be a good book. Getting a blind book was a gamble but I was seriously lucky to get a retelling of my favourite play. I haven’t read YA all year as the last few books I’d read just didn’t satisfy me, and I was slowly falling out of love with them. There may be a few spoilers ahead, but how much can you spoil a story that’s hundreds of years old? The girls and their best friend, Brandon, receive some strange messages that convince them they can have whatever they want. In Talley’s book, Maria and Lily are almost top of the class and the most popular, behind Delilah though. This is a retelling of the classic tragedy. I got As I Descended by Robin Talley in a ‘Blind Date with a Book’ from my local Waterstones! The clue was “something wicked this way comes” and this is a quote from Macbeth, which is my favourite Shakespeare play, I couldn’t resist buying it.

As i descended by robin talley